Toronto Star reaches deal with union to save some jobs that were to be cut

TORONTO - The Toronto Star newspaper (TSX:TS.B) has reached a deal with its union that will save some of the 78 editing jobs that were set to be cut.
In a memo to staff late Monday, Star editor Michael Cooke said the company will not go ahead with a plan to contract out page production.
The company will instead set up a new page production desk that will employ up to 35 full-time staff.
The deal will see some job losses, but the agreement will save the jobs of current page editors who would have been laid off and provides for additional page editor positions to be filled, Cooke said.
"The union worked with us on this alternative in full knowledge of the daunting economics we face," Cooke wrote in the memo.
"Today's agreement saves some of the 78 editing positions that had been designated for layoff, but over the course of this year our newsroom staff will get smaller by several dozen."
The agreement must be ratified by union members.
Maureen Dawson, chairwoman of the Toronto Star unit of the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild said it was not an ideal result.
"I'm pleased we were able to stop the outsourcing in editorial and save some of the jobs, but it means that there are still members in both editorial and pre-press who will be leaving involuntarily," Dawson wrote in an email.
The Star announced a plan last year that would have seen 70 full-time and eight part-time editorial jobs cut and another 39 full-time and four part-time pre-publishing jobs eliminated in a bid to save more than $4 million a year.
No deal was reached regarding the pre-publishing jobs and they are expected to be cut.
In November, the Toronto Star announced what its publisher said would likely be the biggest restructuring in the newspaper's history by offering voluntary buyouts to employees in all divisions of the company.
Some 166 employees have accepted voluntary buyouts at the newspaper and the offer has been extended for some areas of the company.
Overall, Torstar employs about 7,000 people, while the Star has about 1,300 workers across all its divisions, including its printing plant just north of Toronto.